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Friday, January 18, 2013

Not everything changes for the worse...


With the increasing urbanization around me, it's easy to bemoan the diminishing of outdoor recreation.  Certainly fishing is under constant threat from deterioration of water quality, and hunters largely must travel to rural parts of Maryland.  However, some things have improved.

When I was a young man, the land adjoining the Patuxent River just below and above where it becomes tidal was private and much of it was devoted to sand and gravel operations.  Yesterday I visited one of these former sites which has been restored by the park service and returned to its natural environment.

I scouted out a canoe/kayak launch which I plan to use this spring to fish the river.  The park also features an 8 acre lake for bass and panfish fishing.



I see geese everyday, but these were wilder and spookier than the geese near my house 



Apparently, there are beavers among the park residents.






I suspect these ornamental grasses were planted along the trails.


It's a pretty place, and I plan to return.




Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Smoked Brisket

After a decade or so of not using my electric smoker, I'm getting back to smoking meat on it.  Today for the first time I tried beef, about 3 1/4 pounds of brisket that I bought yesterday at a nearby kosher market.



I let the meat soak overnight in my regular brine and today smoked it with hickory for almost six hours.  It measured well done on my meat thermometer at that point.